Base120 · Inversion
Antigoals & Anti-Patterns Catalog
Document failure modes to avoid rather than success patterns to emulate
When to use
"Use when a team repeatedly makes similar mistakes. Document the failure modes to avoid rather than success patterns to emulate. Anti-patterns are often more memorable and more actionable than best practices."
Example
"A team catalogs their anti-patterns — the god object (one class does everything), the premature abstraction (interfaces for a single implementation), the config explosion (every behavior is a flag). New team members read the catalog and avoid repeating these."
Common misuse
"Cataloging anti-patterns but not explaining why they fail. An anti-pattern without a root cause is a rule without understanding — people follow it until they forget why, then repeat it."